Former University of Colorado football player Shilo Sanders testified in bankruptcy court on Wednesday that he tried to get away from former school security guard John Darjean during an incident at a Dallas school in 2015, contradicting witness testimony presented earlier in the trial.
Judge Michael E. Romero heard Sanders’ testimony on Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver. In the trial, which is scheduled to run through Friday, Romero will determine whether Sanders acted willfully and maliciously during the Sept. 17, 2015, incident in which Darjean says that the then 15-year-old Sanders assaulted him and caused permanent injuries.
On Wednesday morning, Sanders doubled down from Tuesday afternoon that he did not hit or strike Darjean on Sept. 17, 2015. Sanders testified that his intent that day was “to try to get away from Darjean and to avoid him.”
“I did not initiate any contact in this whole time I was trying to get away from Darjean,” Sanders said.
Sanders’ testimony, delivered on and Wednesday morning, contradicted depositions that , in which witnesses said Sanders was angry, cursing, kicking and throwing chairs before becoming the aggressor in the altercation with Darjean.
Sanders said he was not angry, did not curse and never kicked or threw a chair. “That never happened,” Sanders said on Tuesday.
Sanders testified Tuesday that Darjean was “getting aggressive” and “attacked and assaulted” him, including choking him. Witnesses said in depositions played on Monday that Sanders struck Darjean and that they did not see Darjean choke Sanders. Sanders denied ever striking Darjean.
Darjean sued Sanders and was awarded $11.89 million in 2022. Sanders filed for bankruptcy in 2023 and now hopes to discharge, or erase, the debt owed to Darjean. Romero will determine whether Sanders acted willfully and maliciously, because under U.S. bankruptcy law, debts resulting from a “willful and malicious injury” cannot be discharged by filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
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